Mattel creates exclusive doll house to showcase Barbie

The Barbie doll house has been designed and executed by Hyperspace India, a part of Aegis Media Group.

A life-sized doll house has been created to promote Barbie dolls, which comes from the Mattel stable, in a recently opened Hamleys toy shop (one of the largest toy shop chains in the world) in Chennai.

Spread over 600-800 sq ft, the doll house has a huge collection of various Barbie dolls. Made from plywood and medium-density fibre board (MDF board), it has an acrylic emulsion and duco-paint finish. Miniature versions of roof tiles enhance the beauty of the house. To give a real-life look, a spa-cum-salon area has also been set up so that kids visiting the store can experience a makeover done by the team of Javed Habib (renowned fashion hair stylist).

The doll house has a beautiful cylindrical backlit doll display unit, popularly called plexi-glass wall. The area consists of all varieties of Barbie dolls, starting from the original Barbie to the latest denim-look Barbie. A cove-lit ceiling with a Barbie iconic display adds spice to the well-crafted window of the doll house. Duco-finished walls with double coated lacquer add to the design appeal, while the steel finish LED backlit signage further contributes to creating appeal for children.

The Barbie doll house has been designed and executed by Hyperspace India, a part of Aegis Media Group.

The target audience (TG) of the in-store activation is kids, mainly girls, aged between 5 and 12 years.

Talking about the brief from Mattel, Haresh Nayak, managing director, Hyperspace India, says, "We were asked to create something of international design and module which would create a higher impact on the TG. Moreover, because our TG is kids, we were asked to adhere to the basic hygiene and safety levels. For example, a kid can lick the walls of the doll house, so we had to use the best quality paint, which would not harm the kids in any way."

The aim of the in-store activity was to create an ambience which would change the behavioural pattern of the consumers, leading to the purchase of Barbie dolls.

Hyperspace took four weeks to complete the project, with the help of four empanelled vendor teams. The team started its execution with site-reconnaissance, followed by the floor layout and plan, 3D-walkthrough and detailed production drawings.

Sumit Chatterjee, retail design head, Hyperspace India, says, "It was very challenging for us to create a life-sized Barbie doll house in such constraints in terms of space. Also, as per the brief, Mattel wanted to highlight their entire doll collections in one place. Thus, we came up with the idea of cylindrical Barbie plexi-window. Because of its shape and size, it gets maximum visibility from any angle of the house."

Nayak adds, "The responses have been great so far. The activation has actually widened the brand visibility of Mattel, which has ultimately led to the increase of sale of Barbie dolls. Moreover, the Indian retail market is changing rapidly, from being just a shopping experience to experiential shopping. Hence, these activities are bound to pay off well."

It is to be noted that in addition to this, Hyperspace has also created 'shopping shops' (areas created within stores to promote a particular brand) for Mattel in more than 100 stores in India, including outlets of Lifestyle and Shopper's Stop, to promote Barbie dolls.